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It could be another six months before the Troubles pension scheme opens for applications, Naomi Long has said.

The justice minister's department was designated by the executive to administer the long-delayed scheme last month.

The victims' payments were approved by Westminster in January.

But Mrs Long said a number of "operational steps" need to be taken before the first payments can be made.

Departmental officials are working to see whether the timescale can be shortened but it is anticipated the scheme will open for applications in March 2021, she added.

The minister told the assembly that the Department of Justice needed to set up an IT system and train new staff to administer the scheme.

Appointments to the board that will determine eligibility for the payments have yet to be made.

Mrs Long said "every effort will be made" to ensure the scheme can open for applications "at the earliest opportunity".

However the justice minister stressed that the UK government still had an obligation to contribute funding to the pension.

There has been a row between Stormont and Westminster over who should pay for the scheme.

The executive argues that Westminster should help fund it, as it is a UK-wide scheme and people injured outside of Northern Ireland will be able to apply.

Conservative MP Simon Hoare has suggested £150m earmarked for Troubles legacy bodies can be used, but that would be controversial.

Mrs Long previously suggested that the upper estimate of costs for the scheme could be as high as £800m.

It had originally been estimated to cost about £100m.

On Monday she said some "critical steps" needed to be in place before the scheme opened for applications, but some steps would be outside her department's control.

Last month, a judge ruled that the NI Executive Office was acting unlawfully in delaying Troubles pensions.

They will give regular payments to people seriously injured, but have been long delayed by arguments over the definition of a Troubles victim.

A legal challenge to the delay was brought to the High Court in Belfast by two victims.